Guitar Hero Smash Hits Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

The very top of your instrument is called the "headstock," and the area right beneath it is where you'll be tapping those colored fret buttons on its neck. A good habit to get into is resting the butt of your palm against the back of the fret area, and having your fingers curl around underneath and to the front for pressing the buttons. To paint a clearer mental picture, this is akin to grabbing the neck from the underside and trying to make a loose fist around it.

Many players start out with their index finger on the top-most green fret, but this is strongly discouraged. You'll establish a habit that you'll have to break when you get into Medium, Hard, and Expert mode, so you should do things right from the start. Settle your pointing finger on the red, your middle on the yellow, your ring on the blue and your pinkie on the orange. That's right, you're going to get your pinkie into this whether you like it or not. Don't worry though, as you won't really be using it that much till Medium at least. Just be prepared.

This might leave you wondering how you'll hit the green, and that's simple. You'll slide your hand up the fret board to move your pointer from the red to the green. Once you've hit it, you'll move right back down again to red. Practice this as much as you have to in order to get used to it, and don't let yourself keep your hand at the top all of the time.

Another method of fret-pushing is using hammer-ons and pull-offs, which are also referred to as HOs and POs. Their use is detailed in one of the in-game tutorials, and it's recommended that you run through it before starting to play. Though this isn't exactly an advanced player's method, you won't really see this in Easy mode, so beginners may want to return to this section later on. Nonetheless, don't forget to try that tutorial!

Basically, hammer-ons refer to a low-to-high series of note gems that are played from the left to the right, and only require one strum at the beginning. Pull-offs are the opposite, for they require strumming once on a low note and then tapping the subsequent, higher notes.

You can recognize both HOs and POs by looking at a sequence of gems on your screen.

To start a hammer-on, you should hold down the fret button for the very first, incoming note, and strum once that note reaches the bottom. This is ordinary, but what follows isn't. You won't strum for the subsequent, halo-endowed gems, but you'll tap their respective fret buttons instead. As in real life, hammer-ons only require the guitarist to strum one time for the sequence. Once the solid, non-highlighted notes reappear, you'll have to resume strumming.

Meanwhile, the pull-off is the hammer-on's opposite. You'll hold down and strum the first high note, and then simply tap the brighter, lower notes that follow. Optionally, you can hold down every fret leading to the first PO gem, and then peel away (or "pull off") your fingers for the subsequent ones. That's how things worked in the first Guitar Hero, but it's too slow for the toughest songs. Still, it's fun to do.

Note on the Open Strum

There's an additional type of note which only bassists face, and it's called the "Open Strum." Whenever you're to hit one of these, you'll see a solid line descending the highway. To play it, you'll strum without holding down any fret buttons at all.